Out in the Cold for Global Warming

Thousands of climate advocates from around the world flocked to Copenhagen over the weekend to attend the second week of the UN’s international summit on climate change.

They got a chilly reception.

EDF President Fred Krupp and Media Director Tony Kreindler brave the long lines to get into the conference center for the UN’s climate change

EDF President Fred Krupp and Media Director Tony Kreindler brave the long lines to get into the conference center for the UN’s climate change conference

The summit was so overbooked that the UN and/or Danish security couldn’t handle registration (each side was blaming the other for the confusion).  The problem, according to the UN, is that the number of people who registered is more than three times the number permitted in the conference center.

Conference participants – including half-a-dozen EDF staff – were stuck outside in the cold and snow flurries for six hours or more; some registered observers never got in at all.

Our compassionate co-workers brought us food, hot tea, and warm socks from inside the conference center, and passed them to us over the security gates and through the crowd.  Fortunately our stubbornness paid off,  and most of us eventually got inside.

On a positive note, we did get to talk with other stranded environmental leaders like Frances Beinecke of NRDC, and make new friends in the crowd of those stuck out in the cold — a crowd that included print reporters and crews for BBC, CNN and Australian TV.

The situation didn’t sit so well with reporters. Check out these stories from Time magazine, the Wall Street Journal and Science News.

In spite of the difficulties, we’re glad the fight against climate change has become so popular.  We’re even more pleased to be thawing out inside the conference center, and to be getting back to work toward a productive outcome.

But by the end of the week, we may be looking back at today fondly, because at least we got inside the conference center.  Starting tomorrow, the UN will begin imposing its own “declining cap” on NGO observers. As the heads of state arrive, available slots will decline from tens of thousands today, to seven thousand tomorrow, to 90 on Friday.   Stay tuned; we’ll let you know how it goes.

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